The present invention relates to a computerized voice response system, particularly the user interface.
Computerized voice response systems are widely used to handle customer calls without requiring a human operator for each call. These systems comprise a host computer which a user accesses by dialing a predetermined number on a touch tone phone. The host computer then provides an audio listing of menu options over the user's phone while the user selects options by pressing pads on the phone keypad.
These voice response systems are generally disliked by users who may need to listen to an entire menu to determine the appropriate option. If the user becomes distracted at a pertinent place in the audio menu, the user may be required to listen to the entire menu again to determine the appropriate number to press on the phone keypad. The user cannot visually scan the possible menu options or review a menu after the distraction is removed, so while providing valuable information, the systems are not very user-friendly. Some system providers have distributed paper guides that enable a user to visually follow along with the audio listings, however these paper guides are easily lost and can become outdated.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a computerized voice response system which provides visual display of the menu options on a computer display screen so the user does not have to interface with only audio listings of menu options.